Thread by @emfundertaker

Okay here's the good news thread.

This morning, I watched the White House and the Department of Justice honor the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Law School for creating the Tenant Assistance Project and working tirelessly to ensure equal access to justice for Nebraskans facing eviction.
(Look! Merrick Garland!)

I don't know if I've ever talked about the Tenant Assistance Project (TAP) got started here in Nebraska, but it's something I think about when I feel like nothing we do as individuals and as advocates is ever going to really matter.

In April 2020, as COVID just took off in Nebraska, a UNL Law professor watched as eviction court proceeded as normal, and so he started entering appearances on behalf of the tenants who could make it in.

I mean, there were tenants who had COVID who would not have been physically allowed in the courtroom because of it, and landlord attorneys who wanted to proceed with the case and win on a default judgment.

UNL Law students started volunteering.
The City of Lincoln Human Rights division got involved, and when Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) became available in 2021, Lincoln made sure an ERA specialist was available to landlords and tenants right there in eviction court.

I don't have the exact up-to-date number, but Lancaster County TAP is responsible for something like $9 million in Lincoln/Lancaster ERA getting distributed. Just because they are there representing tenants and saying, "Listen, landlord, we can get you paid right here."

Since April 2020, with one UNL professor, TAP has grown into Douglas County.
The immediate eviction judgment rate has dropped exponentially.
Landlords are getting paid.
Tenants have more time. More solutions.

It's not a perfect system. It can't be with the laws in Nebraska so heavily weighted against justice.
But I honestly can't describe to you how much better this is than what it was before TAP existed.

We passed LB320 last session in large part because of the work of TAP.
You all care about eviction court because of TAP, in one way or another.
We know what's possible because of TAP.

I'm really proud to know everyone associated with TAP. I'm more proud of whatever small role I've played in its success than anything I've ever done in my life so far (with the exception of creating a perfect human, my toddler).

So I just wanted you to have some good news. Not just the honor granted to TAP this morning, but even bigger than that - that there are solutions to the cruelty of eviction court. It doesn't have to be this way.
And TAP is proving that every day.

So thank you to all of you who have supported TAP in one way or another.
It matters.

And congratulations to you, UNL Law, on your support of TAP and allowing it to grow.

@UNLCollegeofLaw @nebrbar @CityOfLincoln @Adam_Morfeld